A Chance to Say Goodbye
by tardistraveller10
Summary: When he left the first time, she was too upset. When he called the second time, she was in shock. So when he showed up for the third time, she finally said goodbye. Whouffle! ElevenxClara; Oneshot!


**Heeeeey. This is my third fic in the Whoniverse, and my first Whouffle story! Please give feedback! Also, this is Clarax11, in case anyone didn't read the summary.** **BookAddict510**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Doctor Who, which is obvious, because Whouffle is NOT HAPPENING**

It was Wednesday, her favorite day, so it was no surprise when He with the Bushy Eyebrows entered. She reprimanded him without bothering to look up.

"Doctor, you're early _again_. I told not to appear when I'm in the middle of class!"

"Did you really? Must keep track of what you tell me, I must be getting forgetful in my old age. Well, never mind that! There's this planet made of custard that we've got to go to. It's right next to Messaline, maybe I'll drop by and see how they're doing! Or if we travel a bit further we could go to Raxicoricofallapatorius and Clom. No, on second thoughts let's not do that, probably not a good idea. But no matter, oooh! We could go to Blavsha, it's a planet made of bubbles! Like I mean, you could actually walk on them! Imagine walking on a-Clara?"

He stopped abruptly when the stack of papers in her hands cascaded to the ground. She turned around slowly, almost afraid to see who it was. And there he was. Her old doctor. A nonplussed look on his face as he caught sight of her trembling expression. Gingerly, she reached out her hand, gasping as it made contact with his bow-tie. He apparently noted her sharp intake of breath, because his bemused expression gave way to concern.

"Clara? I could come back later if you want..."

 _Oh no, he wasn't getting away that easily._

Instead, she grabbed his hand and pulled him out of the classroom with her, ignoring the conspiratorial whispers that burst from inside as she shut the door. "What are you doing here?" She couldn't help it. It was the first thing that came out of her mouth. His confused expression seemed to become more pronounced.

"It's Wednesday! Rassilon, Clara, you'de think you'de remember!"

Her voice betrayed her. "Doctor, you've gone too far." When he did nothing but tilt his head slightly, she elaborated, trying to keep her voice even."Where-no...When were you aiming for?"

"October, 2014"

"It's October, 2015"

His eyes widened as he grasped what she had been trying to tell him.  
"I've overshot", he moaned. "I'm so sorry, Clara. I should go. The Doctor from your time could appear at any second. Imagine if he saw me! Now, that would be disastrous. Crossing my own time stream could result in anything! Can you imagine a hundred anomalies popping up everywhere? Now that, would be-"

"Shut _up!_ " The words tore out of her mouth before she could even help it. "Sorry. Just...just...you're here. I mean, you're actually here." It suddenly occurred to her that this Doctor was from the past. He wasn't aware of his regeneration. God, this was hard. "I-I mean...you're right. You should go. Anomalies and-" She took a staggered breath, determined not to cry. "-anomalies and all. Right." She was horrified to her voice crack at the end, and quickly began pushing him back down the hallway. He whirled around and grabbed her by the shoulders before she could usher him away.

"Clara."

No response.

" _Clara_ "

No response.

 _"CLARA_ "

She looked up slowly, afraid to meet his startlingly green eyes. "W-What?"Her voice shook, and she internally hit herself. _Could you make it anymore obvious?_

His eyebrows creased.  
"Are you okay?"

"I'm great! Fantastic! Amazing! Couldn't be better!" She winced slightly, knowing full well how she sounded. A quick glance at his disbelieving expression confirmed her thoughts. "Really, Doctor, I'm fine."

He still didn't look convinced. "Are you sure? You still haven't made a single joke about my chin."

She closed her eyes and shook her head, trying to swallow the lump in throat. "Chin's getting old, thought I'd try your hair next"

"There's nothing wrong with my hair!"

"So you've styled it to look like a mop on purpose?"

"Oi!"

She turned away immediately. She couldn't do this again. The banter and teasing would quickly give way to flirting and she couldn't do that. She loved her new Doctor, with his sonic glasses and magician's coat, but she didn't love him in the same way that she loved this Doctor. The familiarity of the situation was enough to cause tears. Blinking them back as well as she could, she looked him in the eye again. "You should go. We don't want any anomalies popping up now, do we?"

"Right, good point! Are you sure you're alright?"

 _'Ask him to stay with you'_ said her heart. ' _Tell him that he needs to go_ ' countered her brain.  
"I'm fine Doctor. Don't worry, I'll see you soon, anyway." He flashed her a brilliant grin, enough to make her sure that she'd said the right thing, and she couldn't help but offer up a watery smile in return. She followed him to the TARDIS, parked inside a janitor's cupboard and choked back tears as he unlocked the door and entered.

"See you soon, Clara."

"Y-Yeah. And you."

She watched as he closed the door and dimly registered the familiar sound of the TARDIS materializing. Then she shook her head. This wasn't right. This wasn't how it was supposed to go. It was _incomplete_. Bolting to the still-in-the-process-of-vanishing-TARDIS, she hammered as loud as she could on the door. "Wait! Come back! DOCTOR!" She'd never been more thankful to hear the sound of the time machine as it appeared once more. The door swung open and he poked his head out.

"You called?"

She wasted no time with words. Running as fast as her cursedly short legs would carry her, she jumped into his arms and hugged him, unable to restrain herself. She could feel his arms flailing around before settling around her back. She pulled back slightly to peer at his face, not surprised to catch his bewildered expression.

He muttered something under his breath which sounded like, "What? Why...What?" before meeting her eyes.

"Really, Clara. If you wanted to hug me you could have just said so earlier. You women just don't know how to express your emotions. You didn't have to insult my hair for that. I'll have you know that it appears this way naturally. Pity I'm not ginger, though. I've always wanted to be ginger. Ginger is cool. How do you think I would look with ginger hair? Maybe I'll ask the Clara from my time to help me dy-"

His sentence was cut off as she pressed her lips to his, unable to restrain herself. He didn't respond for a second, and she nearly broke it, but then his arms were snaking around her waist and pulling her closer, as he kissed her back with a ferocity that she didn't know he possessed. When they finally broke apart, nearly a minute later, she leaned her forehead against his, refusing to open her eyes lest this be a dream.

"Do we do that a lot?"

He was the one who broke the silence, as his green orbs gazed into her brown ones.

"What?"

"Do we do that a lot? You and me from your time, the whole snogging thing? Has our relationship changed?" He looked so excited that she couldn't bring herself to tell him the truth.

"Um...well...yes. I suppose so, yes. Our relationship _has_ changed" _Just not in the way that you think_ , she added in her head.

A grin slowly grew on his face and she couldn't help but mirror it. She wasn't surprised when she heard him say, "Once more? As a goodbye?"

So she stepped forward and closed the distance between them. There was a difference in this kiss, she reasoned. The first one was desperate and passionate. But this one...it was gentle and soft, and more than anything, it was a goodbye kiss. This time when he entered the TARDIS, she felt complete. As though that little bit of her life that was missing was finally back.

"Goodbye Clara, my Impossible Girl"

It was long after he left when she finally had the courage to respond.

"Goodbye, my Doctor"


End file.
